Signature loop authorizing method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for automating and increasing the efficiency of business processes using a role structure which is preferably hierarchical. The hierarchical role structure defines a plurality of roles within several hierarchical levels. Various rights are associated with the different roles to enable positions which are associated with the roles to have access to particular business processes. Access rights can thereby be consistently administered across equivalent or similar positions. In one embodiment, the role structure is used in conjunction with a hierarchical organization structure to allow the organization structure to be searched for positions which are associated with a particular role. As a result, automatic signature loops which are not restricted to direct superiors can be implemented. The hierarchical role structure can also be used in conjunction with a hierarchical content structure to enable employees having different roles within the organization to access different information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/770,163, entitled “Signature Loop Authorizing Method andApparatus”, by Paul Morinville, filed on Jan. 26, 2001 now abandoned,which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.60/179,555, by Paul Morinville, filed on Feb. 1, 2000, both of which areincorporated by reference as if set forth herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to systems and methods for automatingbusiness processes, and more specifically to systems and methods forproviding automated signature looping using role-based user access andapprover identification.

BACKGROUND

Market conditions have driven companies to leverage employees, partners,suppliers, customers and information to reduce costs. To successfullyaccomplish this, organizations must efficiently control the way people,resources and information technology interact. This can be referred toas Business Process Management (BPM).

Business processes are used to control costs, to speed production, toincrease resource efficiency and to control information that is sharedamong internal and external participants. Thousands of businessprocesses permeate such areas as engineering, manufacturing,distribution, sales, branding, marketing, advertising, purchasing,corporate communications, legal, customer relations, finance, staffing,payroll, benefits, training, employee records and more.

Most business processes are manual, paper-based systems. Some aremanaged in software applications. As companies grow, they will generallyemploy 15 to 100 different software applications, each of which governsits own set of business processes. Applications typically secureinformation by controlling access, which is done by setting up accountsand then manually entering (typing in) employee information (e.g.,names). The applications also control business processes by assigningcertain employees to approve certain business processes. Again, thisinformation is manually entered.

When an employee is hired, promoted, transferred or leaves the company,a cascade of manual changes must be made in every affected application.This is illustrated in FIG. 1. Administrators, shown at the bottom ofthe figure, perform these changes. When a company reorganizes, it cantake weeks to make all the necessary changes. Similar changes must bemade when the company modifies its business processes or theresponsibilities of people within the company.

Most applications capture information necessary to project the outcomeand cost of each business process. Companies use Analysts to pullinformation into spreadsheets and then feed this information intofinancial and reporting systems. This can delay management access tocritical information by days or weeks and often yields erroneousinformation.

If management finds it necessary to change a specific business process,the people who can access the business process, or the people whoapprove the process can be changed. This is normally done throughe-mails, meetings, and phone calls to functional and departmental headswho determine which employees should be added or deleted from the accessand authorization rolls. Typically, when a business process is changed,management gives to system administrators a list of applications thatare affected. The system administrators must then type in the newinformation and delete the old information. This process can take weeks.During this time, employees may or may not know what has changed, andthe change has not been completely implemented, so it may be verydifficult to enforce the modified business process.

Incredible inefficiencies and hard cash losses can be directlyassociated with poor business process management. Companies must employextra people to manage, drive, audit and report on business processes.It is not unusual for new employees to start 30 days before their phonesare turned on, for computers to get “lost”, for payroll, credit cards,phones and building access to remain valid after employees terminate,for bureaucracy to build, for employees to become confused anddissatisfied, for management's span of control to become restricted, forthe security of information to break down, and more.

Market Landscape. Paper Systems and Simple Applications. In smallbusinesses, the vast majority of business processes are managed on papersystems, although simple applications may be used to manage highlyadministrative functions like payroll, finance and benefits. Mostbusiness processes are either verbal, or forms are filled out andforwarded (by hand or e-mail) to approvers and administrators. In smallcompanies this method is effective and keeps associated costs down.

Workflow Applications. Generally, as companies grow past 250-300employees, manual business processes break down and the companies beginto purchase specialized workflow applications for business processesinvolving staffing, HRIS, purchasing, inventory, expense reporting, CRM,sales, etc. These applications are generally available as “shrink wrap”software installed on company hardware (or rented as an applicationservice). Annual costs for each application can range from $50 to $1200per employee.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). ERP systems (SAP, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, Baan, Great Plains and others) are first and foremost financialsystems. They are designed to seamlessly integrate legacy applicationsand their own applications into a single financial application. An ERPimplementation is an enormous undertaking that integrates all thebackend systems and maps and builds business processes. The integrationof information has great value, but business processes are “hard-wired”and require administration of access and approval. This results in anextremely rigid system that is like a house of cards that has to bereconstructed every time the something changes.

Signature Looping. Signature looping is the process of identifyingpeople within the company that are involved in a business process,notifying them that their participation is required for a particularprocess that has been initiated, and possibly obtaining their approvalsof the process.

Most competitive systems which are capable of automating signaturelooping do so by traversing the company's organizational structuredirectly up the chain of command as illustrated in FIG. 2. The customerdefines the number of levels of management that the business processrequires and the system will automatically find the requester'ssuperiors and forward information to them. These systems can identifythe direct reporting manager, the second level manager and any others upto the CEO, but they cannot identify functional approvers like Financeor HR employees who are not directly above the requester in theorganization.

In a small organization, this type of approval may be manageable, but incomplex, fast changing or geographically distributed organizations, itbecomes very difficult. This difficulty arises from a number of factors.For example, in a larger organization, approval functions may beassigned to a position which, because of the complex organizationalstructure, is not directly above the requesting position. Further, inmost systems, lists of functional approvers are manually maintained foreach employee with access to a particular business process.

While some products allow signature looping to be based on the roles ofemployees rather than simply their positions, these products alsonormally require manual maintenance of lists which identify specificapprovers for specific employees and specific business processes.

A software platform that can bridge business process gaps betweenpeople, resources and systems is therefore necessary to increase theamount of information which is available, to increase control and toincrease efficiency.

SUMMARY

One or more of the problems outlined above may be solved by the variousembodiments of the invention. Broadly speaking, the invention comprisessystems and methods for automating and increasing the efficiency ofbusiness processes using a role structure which is preferablyhierarchical. The hierarchical role structure defines a plurality ofroles within several hierarchical levels. Various rights (e.g., accessrights or authorization rights) are associated with the different rolesor levels to enable positions which are associated with the roles tohave access to particular business processes (e.g., purchasing orhiring). In this way, access rights can be administered across more thanone position at a time, and can be consistently applied acrossequivalent or similar positions. In one embodiment, the role structureis used in conjunction with a hierarchical organization structure toallow the organization structure to be searched for positions which areassociated with a particular role. As a result, automatic authorizationloops (signature loops) which are not restricted to direct superiorswithin the organization can be implemented. The hierarchical rolestructure can also be used in conjunction with a hierarchical contentstructure to enable employees having different roles within theorganization to access different information, based upon rights whichare associated with those roles.

In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a business processmanagement system which is configured to utilize both an organizationalstructure and a role structure to identify positions within a company.These data structures, used in combination, may enable the efficiency ofbusiness processes to be improved in a number of ways. For example,signature looping processes can be configured to identify approvers orother participants in a business process based upon their roles in thecompany, and not simply their positions within the organization. Apreferred embodiment implements a role-based search for theseparticipants which is capable of identifying positions that are notdirectly up the chain of command from a particular position in theorganization. The role based searching of the preferred embodiment alsoeliminates the need for maintaining individual lists ofapprovers/participants corresponding to each combination of positionsand business processes. The preferred embodiment also implements a rolestructure which is hierarchical in order to facilitate propagation ofinformation within the system. Roles within the hierarchical structureare able to inherit rights and/or restrictions from higher levels of thehierarchy, so that changes in these rights/restrictions need not beentered onto a position-by-position basis. the same is true for bothaccessing business processes and accessing company information.

Various alternative embodiments of the invention are possible, as willbe described below, and as will be evident to persons of skill in theart of the invention upon reading this disclosure. the descriptions hereand are therefore intended to be illustrative, rather than limiting ofthe invention which is claimed below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the invention may become apparent uponreading the following detailed description and upon reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the manual changes which must be madeto a company's applications and data when a change occurs in thestructure or business processes of the company.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the limitation of prior art systemsthat only positions directly upward in a person's chain of command canbe identified as participants in a business process associated with thatperson.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the structure of a system for theadministration of business processes in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 4 is a hierarchical organizational structure which comprises aseries of positions reporting to other positions.

FIG. 5 is a hierarchical role structure in which the roles of people inthe company are broken down into smaller and smaller subsets orspecializations within a given role.

FIG. 6 is a hierarchical content structure which breaks down businessinformation (content) into a plurality of subsets within a higher-levelcontent category.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an approval matrix and the use of trippoints therein in one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the building of a request in oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the selection of participants in abusiness process of a request in one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the execution or performance of arequest in one embodiment of the invention.

While the invention is subject to various modifications and alternativeforms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in thedrawings and the accompanying detailed description. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description are notintended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment which isdescribed. This disclosure is instead intended to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope ofthe present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described below. It should benoted that this and any other embodiments described below are exemplaryand are intended to be illustrative of the invention rather thanlimiting.

Broadly speaking, the invention comprises systems and methods forautomating and increasing the efficiency of business processes using ahierarchical role structure. The hierarchical role structure defines aplurality of roles within several hierarchical levels. Various rights(e.g., access rights or authorization rights) are associated with thedifferent roles or levels to enable positions which are associated withthe roles to have particular access to certain business processes (e.g.,purchasing or hiring). In this way, access rights can be administeredacross more than one position at a time, and can be consistently appliedacross equivalent or similar positions. In one embodiment, thehierarchical role structure is used in conjunction with a hierarchicalorganization structure to allow the organization structure to besearched for positions which are associated with a particular role. As aresult, automatic authorization loops (signature loops) which are notrestricted to direct superiors within the organization can beimplemented. The hierarchical role structure can also be used inconjunction with a hierarchical content structure to enable employeeshaving different roles within the organization to access differentinformation, based upon rights which are associated with those roles.

In one embodiment, the present systems and methods are implemented in anenterprise-class business process management application. Thisapplication provides a business processor engine which can drawinformation from both internal and external sources, use thisinformation in the management of business processes, and communicateresulting information to users which may include employees, management,partners, vendors, consultants, customers and the like.

The application enables the analysis and reporting of real-timeinformation and thereby allows users to make timely and accuratebusiness decisions. The application also provides a central point formanagement of business processes and thereby enables the implementationof management decisions quickly and consistently across a company'sentire workforce.

The application of the preferred embodiment is built on threehierarchical data structures: an organizational structure; a rolestructure; and a content structure. The organizational structurecomprises a hierarchical organization of the positions within thecompany. Each position can be uniquely identified. The positions can beused as a mechanism for tracking people (employees) and assets which areassigned to the respective positions, as well as services and businessprocesses which are associated with the positions. The role structurecomprises a hierarchical organization of roles within the company. Eachrole is a subset or specialization of the roles which are superior to itin the role structure. Each role can be associated with one or more ofthe company's employees and used as the basis for controlling thoseemployees' access to particular business processes. The contentstructure comprises a hierarchical organization of subsets of thecompany's data (e.g., business process content). Access to each of thesubsets of data can be controlled independently, so that certain typesof data are accessible only to certain roles within the company.

Referring to FIG. 3, a diagram illustrating the structure of a systemfor the administration of business processes in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention is shown. The system comprises a businessprocessor engine 21 which is coupled to internal data sources 22 andexternal data sources 23, as well as users 24. Business processor engine21 is configured to control requests submitted by users 24 to accessbusiness processes. Business processor 21 determines whether therequesting user is authorized to access the requested process based oninformation such as organizational data (e.g., the department, workgroupor project of the user), functional data (e.g., security, routing orapproval information) or other data which is available to the system. Ifthe requested business process is authorized to proceed, businessprocessor engine 21 may access data such as ERP/financial data,HR/benefits/payroll data, manufacturing data, sales/CRM data engineeringdata or e-commerce data from internal sources 22. Likewise, businessprocessor engine 21 may access data such as partner lists, supplierlists, staffing information, purchasing data or ASP information from theexternal data sources 23.

The business processor engine makes use of three hierarchical datastructures: an organizational structure; a role structure; and a contentstructure. These data structures provide a basis for the distinctivecapabilities of the system. These capabilities relate to, among otherthings, the manner in which automated signature looping and informationrouting is performed, the manner in which acquisition maintenance andtermination of positions, roles, people and inventory is accomplished,and the manner in which metrics are used and reporting is performed bythe system.

Hierarchical Organizational Structure.

Referring to FIG. 4, the organizational structure is a hierarchical datastructure of positions reporting to positions. Each position has anassociated role which is used to control access to business processesand information. (In some embodiments, there may be more than one roleassociated with each position.) The role is also used as the basis foridentifying employees, contingent workers, vendors and partners forcollaboration during business processes. Each position contains its ownfunctional job description, functional title and mailing address. Eachposition can be identified from all other position by its place in theorganizational structure. Each position is a tracking location forpeople, fixed assets, services and business processes.

In a preferred embodiment, the highest-level position in theorganizational structure is “Org 0 ” (the organization). Org 0 is theonly position in the organizational structure without a superiorposition. All positions ultimately report to Org 0. Org 0 serves as arepository for corporate information and as the location to trackunassigned assets and services.

In a preferred embodiment, the position of Org 0 in the organizationalstructure is defined in the system by the following rules: Org 0 cannotbe created by the user, but is already programmed into the system whenit is distributed to customers; Org 0 can only be the top position ofthe organizational structure; Org 0 cannot have a superior position; Org0 is the only position containing corporate information like billingaddress, banking information, etc.; Org 0 cannot have people tracked toit; Org 0 cannot be an approver; Org 0 must have one subordinateposition (usually the CEO); and Org 0 cannot have more than one directlysubordinate position.

In the preferred embodiment, positions other than Org 0 are defined bythe following rules: they must have a superior position; they cannothave more than one superior position; they can have n direct subordinatepositions; they must have a role; they cannot have more than one role;they can have an active user; they cannot have more than one active user(a user is normally an employee or contractor, but can be a vendor,partner or consultant); when a position is transferred, its role and alltracked people, assets, services and business processes as well as alldirect and indirect subordinate positions transfer with it; and aposition cannot be terminated with active people, assets, services,business processes, or subordinate positions.

Hierarchical Role Structure.

Referring to FIG. 5, the role structure comprises a hierarchicalorganization of roles within the company. Each role is a subset orspecialization of the roles which are superior to it in the rolestructure. Each role can be associated with one or more of the positionsin the organizational structure, and is used as the basis forcontrolling the access of those employees associated with thecorresponding organizational positions to particular business processes.

In a preferred embodiment, the hierarchical role structure comprisesnine levels in three categories: functional role, superiority and legal.Each role in the organization can be related to the other roles in termsof these categories. For example, in FIG. 5, role 31 (Test) is a skillwithin the Mechanical specialty 32, which is in turn a subset of theEngineering function 33. It should be noted that the roles within eachcategory may be independent of the roles in other categories. In otherwords, the levels associated with superiority roles or legal roles donot necessarily have a predetermined relationship to the levelsassociated with the functional roles. The functional, superiority andlegal hierarchies may be coincident only at the organization (Org 0)level.

The role structure is used to provide the position, and thereby theuser, with access to information and business processes; to identifypositions in the organizational structure for collaboration on businessprocesses (e.g., requesters and approvers); and to administer jobrelated information through libraries containing information such aslegal documentation, job descriptions, performance plan templates andcompensation information.

As a result of the hierarchical function structure, access rights tobusiness processes are inherited from one level of the hierarchy toanother. A particular function has the access rights assigned to thatfunction, as well as access rights to any function about it in thehierarchy. This enables the administration of large groups of employeesat the same time, rather than forcing it to be done for individualemployees. For example, if the hierarchy includes:workforce/HR/recruiters/exempt recruiters, executive recruiters, it ispossible to freeze exempt hiring by taking away from the exemptrecruiters access to an offer-letter business process. Then, no offerscan be made to prospective employees. If this process is initiallyaccessible to all recruiters, moving the access down a level to theexecutive recruiters results in a situation in which executives can behired, but exempt employees cannot.

There are several rules relating to the role structure of the preferredembodiment: a role can be associated with many positions; a role isassociated with a role is a specialization of the roles which are aboveit in the hierarchical role structure; a role cannot have more than onesuperior role; a role can have n direct subordinate roles; a role mustbe associated with at least one position; and a role can be associatedwith more than one position.

Functional Role. The first of the three categories to which roles maybelong in the preferred embodiment is the category of functional roles.In this embodiment, there are four levels of functional roles. Theseroles comprise a hierarchical structure starting with “workforce”, whichis the first level of all roles. Subsets of workforce include majorfunctional skills or roles (such as Finance, Human Resources,Engineering, Sales, Marketing, etc.) These are further broken down intosubsets of specialties. The specialty level is then broken down intosubsets of skills.

Each level of the functional roles can be linked to page, purchasing orbusiness process content. This allows the company to administer accessacross all employees, vendors, consultants and partners at the workforcelevel, to specific groups by function, to specialties within a function,and to skills within a specialty. This enables the company to easily andsimultaneously manage access to sensitive information and businessprocesses by participants across the entire company. Functional rolesare linked to approval matrixes so that business process approvers canbe identified, thereby enabling automated business process collaborationbetween participants, and enforcement of approval requirements.

Superiority. Superiority is the title or the grade associated with arole. The title identifies the management level (e.g., CEO, SVP, VP,Director, Senior Manager, Manager, Senior Consultant, Consultant, etc.)Title is useful because in most companies, it represents a level ofaccess and decision-making authority that is constant across functions.Title can be linked to business processes in the same manner as thefunctional role. Grade identifies the compensation band and is linkeddirectly to the compensation library. Grade is not linked to businessprocesses.

Legal. Legal levels consist of class (exempt or non-exempt), EEOclassification (professional, skilled, unskilled, management orexecutive), and employment (full-time, part-time, contingent, vendor,partner, etc.) These levels are primarily useful in metrics andreporting, job description administration, legal job requirements andperformance planning.

Libraries. A Library contains information that is linked to rolehierarchies. This allows the company to administer information atvarious levels of the role, and thereby apply broad changes across theentire workforce, function, skill or specialty, or across titles, gradesand legal categories from a single location. There may be a number ofdifferent libraries, each containing a set of related types ofinformation which are generally administered in the same manner. In thepreferred embodiment, the libraries include a compensation library, asetup library, a content library, and a business process library. Otherlibraries (e.g., a job description library or a performance library) mayalso be implemented. Descriptions of the libraries and of the types ofinformation which may be found in them follow.

Compensation Library. The role compensation library houses compensationranges and types for each role. This allows the company to dynamicallybuild and administer the compensation matrix. The compensation matrix islinked the grade level of the role. Each grade level may contain suchinformation as: pay Type (Salary, Hourly, Commission, etc); Pay Range(Minimum, First Quartile, Mid-Point, Third Quartile, Maximum); Bonus (Asa % of pay, Target $); Commission Target (%=1−[Base/Annual TargetCompensation]); Estimated Annual Compensation (Mid-Point +[Bonus orCommission]); and Hiring Budget Estimates (Agency fee estimated dollars,Relocation type and estimated dollars).

Job Description Library. The job description library houses legalrequirements and job descriptions for each level of the role. Thisallows the company to dynamically build and administer job descriptions,and legal requirements to varying levels of the role.

Performance Library. The Performance Library houses legal requirementsand job descriptions for each level of the Role. This allows the companyto dynamically build and administer job descriptions, and legalrequirements to varying levels of the Role.

Setup Library. The Setup Library houses all of the Product, Services andBusiness Process Requests necessary to setup a new employee with all ofthe things necessary to do their job on the first day of work. Thisallows companies to dynamically manage setup configurations for newemployees.

Content Library. The content library houses all of the page contentnecessary for each role to perform day-to-day business. This informationis used to dynamically build pages based on the employee's logged inposition.

Business Process Library. The business processes library houses all ofthe business processes that are necessary for each role to performday-to-day business. This information is used to allow employee accessto business processes and purchases.

Hierarchical Content Structure.

Referring to FIG. 6, the hierarchical content structure is ahierarchical breakdown of business information (content). Thehierarchical content structure can be used in conjunction with thehierarchical role structure to enable employees having different roleswithin the organization to access different information, based uponrights which are associated with those roles. In a preferred embodiment,the content is broken down into subsets of page content, purchasingcontent and business process content. Page content is a systematicbreakdown of each page starting with the page, breaking down each groupof data and breaking down each group of data into individual fields to 4levels. Purchasing content is a systematic breakdown of assets andservices items business process content is a systematic breakdown ofbusiness processes.

In the preferred embodiment, page content is broken down into major datagroups. Major data groups are then broken down into minor data groupsand minor data groups are broken down into fields. Following is anexample of page content

1. Employee Page a. Employee Information i. Employee Name 1. First Name2. Middle Name 3. Last Name ii. Personal Contact 1. Home PhoneInformation 2. Personal Cell 3. Personal Pager 4. Personal Fax 5. Homee-mail iii. Work Contact 1. Work Phone Information 2. Work Cell 3. WorkPager 4. Work Fax 5. Work e-mail iv. Address 1. Street 2. Mailing 3.City 4. State 5. Zip 6. Country v. Personal 1. Employment Status 2.Gender 3. Ethnicity 4. Veterans Status 5. Marital Status 6. SSN 7. DOB8. Visa Status b. Links i. Personal 1. Benefits Information 2. Payroll3. Dependants 4. Performance Plan ii. Personal History 1. Training 2.Education 3. Experience 4. References iii. Administrative 1.Compensation Information 2. Internal Job History iv. Administrative 1.Transfer Business 2. Training Processes 3. Change Pay 4. CreatePerformance Plan 5. Change Information 6. Terminate

Following is an example of purchasing content.

1. Office a. Supplies i. Paper 1. White Printer 2. White Letterhead 3.Legal Pads ii. Pens 1. Papermate 101 2. Bic retractable b. Equipment i.Desk 1. Executive 2. Engineer 3. Sales 4. Staff 2. Computer a. Suppliesi. Printer 1. HP Office Jet 1150C Color 2. HP Office Jet 1150C Black b.Peripherals i. Printer 1. Department 2. Workgroup 3. Individual

Automated Signature Looping.

Signature looping is the process of identifying people within thecompany that are involved in a business process and notifying them thattheir participation is required for a particular process that has beeninitiated. For example, if one employee requests the purchase of acertain item, it may be necessary for another employee to approve thepurchase before it can proceed. In the present system, the signaturelooping process is based upon the roles that exist within the companyrather than lists of specific people who are associated with eachprocess. When a business process is initiated by a person having a firstrole, one or more other roles may be identified as being necessary forthe completion of the process. The organization is then searched to findthe identified role(s). These roles may be associated with differentpositions, depending upon the role and/or position of the initiator ofthe process. In other words, if the same role is associated with twodifferent positions, one of these positions might be identified if afirst person initiated the business process, while the other might beidentified if a second person initiated the process.

The purpose of automated signature looping is to identify the rightparticipants in a business process (e.g., a request) without the need tomanually maintain participant lists. The appropriate participants in theprocess can then view information associated with the process. Thiseliminates the need to administer IT accounts (database access andapprover accounts) as new participants are brought into the company,moved around or otherwise changed. It also allows for securecollaboration, both across the workforce and with vendors and partners.

Two primary methods of identifying participants are used in a preferredembodiment of the invention: management levels and functional roles.Management levels are the number of levels up from a starting positionin the organizational structure. The identification of management levelsis accomplished by climbing the organizational structure one position(one level) at a time. This can go on until reaching the final level,which is usually the CEO. If it is necessary to get approval from onemanagement level for a business process, the direct reporting manager(who could hold the title of manager, director, etc.) would beidentified. This person could also be referred to as the first levelmanager. If two management levels are necessary for approval, the firstlevel manager and the second level manager would be identified. The sameprocess is used to identify however any levels of management arenecessary.

Functional roles essentially comprise the function of a particular jobor position. In the hierarchical role structure, the functional rolesand are the first four levels of the structure. Identification of theappropriate functional role is accomplished by climbing theorganizational structure one level and looking down through subordinatepositions to find the necessary role. This downward search is normallyperformed in a predetermined manner (e.g., searching one subordinateposition and its subordinates before searching the next position at thatlevel). If the role is not found, it is necessary to climb to the nexthigher level of the organizational structure and look down through thesubordinate positions to identify the necessary role. This methodologyallows the identification of approvers that are not in the direct chainof command above the initiator of a request.

It should also be noted that the identification of approvers (and/orother participating roles) in a business process may also be based onsuperiority roles. Superiority Roles are essentially the Titles whichcorrespond to the roles. Identification of roles based on superiority isaccomplished in the same manner as Management Levels, except it is notinclusive of the positions between the requesting position and theidentified position. In other words, it may be necessary to obtainapproval of a director or n-level manager without also getting theapproval of the intermediate (n-1-level) managers.

There is no association between role A and role B, except to say thatrole a gets access to specific things because it is role A. Thatspecific thing might be a request to purchase. The authorization of therequest to purchase might then be associated with role B. It doesn'tmatter where that role (B) resides within the organizationalhierarchy—the search will go up a level, then check everything belowthat position (i.e., subordinate positions). Then up another level andcheck everything below that position. This is repeated until role B isfound.

Using this search method, you can, for example, be a field salespersonon one side of the organization reporting up through 10 levels ofmanagement to get to the CEO. On the other side of the organization ismanufacturing. Ten levels down is the person who determines what theproduction capability is. If the salesperson wants 5000 computers in twoweeks, someone in manufacturing has to provide that information. Theonly way to find that person is to go up a level in a the organizationalhierarchy and search down, go up another level and search down, and soon until the person is found. In the example of the salesperson and themanufacturing person, the search will go all the way up to the CEO toreach the top of the manufacturing hierarchy, then search all the wayback down.

This type of search can find anybody in the entire company. The selectedrole may be narrowly defined so that only a single person satisfies theselected role, or it may be broadly defined so that several people maysatisfy the selected role. If there are several people who have roleswhich satisfy the search, then, in one embodiment, the first one to befound it is selected.

The connection between the roles may be based on any of a number ofrelationships. For example, as described above, one role might beauthorized to make a purchase request while the other role is authorizedto approve the request. As another example, one role might be authorizedto interview candidates for employment, while the other role isauthorized to send out offer letters to selected candidates.

Approval Matrix. A preferred embodiment of the present invention employsapproval matrices to identify the roles which need to be selected forparticipation in a particular business process. The purpose of theApproval Matrix is to define the participating roles for the businessprocess (possibly based upon one or more conditions relating to thebusiness process) so that the positions corresponding to these roles canbe identified. These positions can then be contacted to obtain theirparticipation.

In the preferred embodiment, an approval matrix is associated with everyrequest process. If no approvals are required (i.e., if the requester isauthorized to complete the request with no further authorization), theapproval matrix will indicate a null approver set (i.e., no approversare required). Each approval matrix includes an indication of the orderin which approvers need to approve the request. It should be noted that,in some embodiments, the approval matrixes may be implemented in ahierarchical structure similar to that of the roles, where each approvalmatrix would inherit the approval requirements, trip points, etc. of thehigher levels of the hierarchy.

Trip Points. A trip point is a condition which can affect theapprovers/participants which are identified in connection with abusiness process. If the condition is met, the corresponding trip pointis triggered, altering the identification of approvers. In the preferredembodiment, each trip point has a corresponding set of approvers in theapproval matrix. (The trip points may also be contained in a matrix.)The purpose of the trip points is to compare specific request dataagainst predefined data (the trip points) to determine which set ofapprovers should be used for the request.

Trip points may comprise a variety of different data types. For example,they may comprise quantities, prices, the number of days between twodates, shipping methods, reasons for requests, status of concurrentrequests in the business process, or administrator defined conditions.In a preferred embodiment, the trip points are configured according tothe following rules: every request process has a trip point matrix; trippoints can be null, but they are still needed so they can be changed onthe fly; a trip point is inactive if the trip value is null; a trippoint is active if the trip value is not null; and a trip point can beset to greater than, less than, or equal to the trip value.

Although the approval matrices and trip points are described hereinprimarily with respect to request processes, similar approvals may berequired for other types of business processes. In these instances, theapproval matrices and trip points are implemented in the same manner.

Referring to FIG. 7, a diagram illustrating an approval matrix and theuse of trip points therein is shown. The upper portion of the diagramcorresponds to a trip point matrix and the lower portion corresponds toan approval matrix. The matrix controls the selection of approvers for acorresponding business process under a variety of scenarios. Forexample, in a “normal” scenario, the shipping type is not “overnight”,the cost of the computer is less than $1000 and the quantity is one.Consequently, the system selects the “normal” set of approvers fromcolumn 41. The right side of the column identifies the number ofmanagement levels that must approve the process (one), as well asspecifying that the controller must approve it (as indicated by the “X”in the corresponding row). The numbers on the left side of the columnindicate the order in which the approvals must be obtained. Since bothapprovals are 1's, they can be concurrently obtained.

Other scenarios may include situations in which one of the conditionsspecified by the trip points (shipping type, cost, quantity or date) ismet. For instance, if the price is greater than $1000 and all other trippoints are unmet, the matrix identifies the approvers (in column 42) asa director, one level of management, a controller, and a procurementperson. The numbers on the left side of the column indicate that thefirst level manager, controller, and procurement can approveconcurrently, then director approval is obtained last.

If the quantity is greater than 1 and all other trip points are unmet,the first level manager and Controller are identified for simultaneousapproval, followed by the first Director directly up the organizationalstructure, and finally the vice president (see column 43). If multipletrip points are met, the system accumulates the approvers and theapproval order from each affected trip point.

Request Process.

The purpose of the request process is to capture information fromvarious sources and allow the requester to change information withoutaffecting the source application, then attain approval for the changeand allow the requester to execute the change. The request process alsocaptures information necessary for reporting. The process can generallybe described as comprising accessing the request process, triggering therequest if no approvals are required, otherwise building a request,summarizing the request, approving the request and executing therequest.

Access. Access to the request process is triggered automatically by auser. If the users' role is authorized to initiate the request (aspecific business process), the user can see the request option.Otherwise, if the process is not available to the user, it is not evendisplayed to the user. If no approvals are required for the request toproceed, it is automatically triggered. If no approvals are necessaryand the request requires a completed predecessor, the request processengages automatically upon completion of the predecessor. This allowsthe company to seamlessly daisy chain requests in an automated seriesand/or parallel format.

Build. The request is built by pulling information from data sourceswhich are available to the system. This is illustrated in FIG. 8. Thesesources may include internal sources of information such as position oremployee data, ERP, financial, sales or MRP data. Data may also bepulled from external sources such as ASPs or vendors. The informationpulled from the sources is used to populate predetermined data setswithin the request. The user can then make changes to the informationcontained in the request. Changes made by the user may cause furtherdata to be pulled from the internal and external sources. The buildingof the request also involves identification of trip points, selection ofapprovers based on the appropriate approval matrix, and identificationof employees associated with the approving positions.

Summarize. After the request is built, it is summarized. Informationassociated with the request (e.g., the employees identified for approvalof the request) is displayed, and the requester can update or add to theinformation before the request is submitted for approval. In some cases,this may occur automatically without the need for user input. In otherinstances, the user may enter data such as justification notes. When therequest is summarized, the necessary approval roles are determined fromthe corresponding approval matrix. If no approvers are required, therequest may be automatically approved. If approvers are required,automated signature looping is triggered. This may occur automatically,or in response to the user submitting the request for approval.

Approval. After the request has been submitted for approval, the requestis directed to each of the identified approvers. This is illustrated inFIG. 9. The status of the approval can be viewed by the requesting user,as well as the approving roles. As the request is approved (or as otheractions are taken by the requester or approvers), this information ismade available to the participants in the approval process. The approvalprocess is complete when either all of the approvers have approved therequest, or one of the necessary approvers has declined the request.Notifications can be sent to the participants at the end of the approvalprocess. Notifications may also be sent to the participants after apredetermined aging period as reminders that the request is stillpending.

Execute. After the request has been approved, it can be completed.Completion of the request may consist of performing the requestedaction, placing the request on hold, or canceling the request. This isillustrated in FIG. 10. Performance of the request may result increation of new records in the system, modification of existing records,or other actions.

Request Template. A request template as used in one particularembodiment is shown below. Underlined information is fixed in thisembodiment and is the same in all request processes. All non-underlinedinformation is variable in this embodiment and is specific to eachindividual request process.

1. Access - Method and Location of Access 1.1. Predecessor Name or NoPredecessor 2. Build 2.1. Description of Request Record 2.1.1. Source ofData (n) 2.1.1.1. Data Description 2.1.2. Request State = Build2.1.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped 2.1.3. Request Status = Active2.1.3.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped 2.2. Description of DataChange/Add 2.2.1. Specific Action (n) 2.2.1.1.1. Editable/Non-editable2.3. Secondary Pull of Data 2.3.1. Source of Data (n) 2.3.1.1. DataDescription 2.3.1.1.1. Editable/Non-editable 2.4. User Selects Reasonfor Request 2.5. User inputs justification 2.6. User summarizes request2.6.1. Request State = Summarize 2.6.1.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped2.6.2. Request Status = Active 2.7. User holds request2.7.1. Request State = Build 2.7.2. Request Status = Hold2.7.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped 2.8. User cancels request2.8.1. Request State = Build 2.8.2. Request Status = Cancel2.8.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped 3. Summarize3.1. Engages Automated Signature Looping to select Approvers3.1.1. Lists approving position and approver names & contact information3.2. Lists Original Information 3.3. Lists New/Changed Information3.4. Ability for User to select additional approver by name3.4.1. Can be null3.5. Ability for User to select courtesy notification by name3.5.1. Can be null 3.6. User sends for approval3.6.1. Request State = Approval 3.6.1.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped3.6.2. Request Status = Active 3.6.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped3.7. User holds request 3.7.1. Request State = Summarize3.7.2. Request Status = Hold 3.7.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped3.8. User cancels request 3.8.1. Request State = Summarize3.8.2. Status = Cancel 3.8.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped3.9. Notification 4. Approve 4.1. All Approvers approves Request4.1.1. Request State = Execute 4.1.1.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped4.1.2. Request Status = Active 4.1.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped4.2. Any Approver declines Request 4.2.1. Request State = Approval4.2.2. Request Status = Decline 4.2.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped4.3. Any Approver Holds Request 4.3.1. Request State = Approval4.3.2. Request Status = Hold 4.3.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped4.4. Requestor Cancels Request 4.4.1. Request State = Approval4.4.2. Request Status = Cancel 4.4.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped4.5. Approver inputs decision notes 4.6. Notifications4.6.1. Can be resent to participants at a preset number of aging days.4.6.2. Can be sent to the approver's next level of management atpreset aging days. 5. Execute 5.1. Requestor Completes approved request5.1.1. Request State = Complete 5.1.1.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped5.1.2. Request Status = Active 5.1.3. Performs Requested Action 5.1.3.1.Data Source description 5.1.3.2. Description of information toChange/Add 5.2. Requestor rebuilds declined request5.2.1. Request State = Build 5.2.1.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped5.2.2. Request Status = Active 5.3. Requestor cancels approved request.5.3.1. Request State = Execute 5.3.2. Request Status = Cancel5.3.2.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped5.4. Requestor Cancel declined request 5.4.1. Request State = Execute5.4.1.1. Time/Date and user ID stamped 5.4.2. Request Status = Declined

Request Variable Information. The preferred embodiment includes a numberof built-in requests. In this embodiment, only the steps shown below areincluded in the built-in requests.

1. Access - How: What is the triggering mechanism? 1.1. Predecessor:Name Predecessor if any 1.2. Access Parameter: Role Access or No Access2. Build 2.1. Request type: All/Business Processes/Organization/ 2.1.1.Initial data Source: Where is the information coming from? 2.1.1.1.Data: What information is being pulled? 2.1.2. User Action: 2.1.3.Secondary data Source: Where is the information coming from? 2.1.3.1.Data: What information is being pulled? 2.1.4. User selects: What doesthe User select from dropdown menus? 2.1.5. User enters: What does theUser fill in? 2.1.6. User edits: What does the User Change? 3. Summarize4. Approve 5. Execute 5.1. Request Action: What does the Request do?5.1.1. Data Destination: Where is the information going? 5.1.2.Description: What information is going?

Information and Reporting.

The system provides metrics and reporting for each business process. Thecompany knows what is being requested, what is being approved, what isabout to execute and what is complete. Metrics can be rolled up acrossthe entire organization or any business unit. Information can further beanalyzed by function or role. Work-in-process, backlogs, cost, estimatedcompletion, cycle time, and much more can be instantly generated to viewtrends, comparisons, and projections, and can be isolated for root causeanalysis.

Information is captured systematically at each step of the RequestProcess. This provides a template for universal business processreporting through watershed and static reporting methods. Canned staticreports pertaining to general organizational structure, people,purchasing, inventory and workforce issues are built in. Databasequeries can be run for additional analysis. Business Objects or CrystalReports is available for advanced reporting and modeling.

Watershed reporting is the method of reporting volume, speed and falloffrates for each request process in a business process. This methodologyis used to determine where a business process is inefficient orbottlenecked, and to project completion time and cost. Watersheds areoften analyzed to find more efficient ways to process business.

Built in Reports—All reporting can be cut by role at any level and/or byorganizational structure at any level, projected, current and historicand if applicable, associated costs. Examples of some of the built-inreports that may be provided are listed below. This list is intended tobe illustrative rather than limiting.

Organizational Structure Role mix - % of one Role to total jobs oranother Role FTE/Contingent mix Management span of control - how manydirect and indirect subordinate positions per manager Requested, open,filled, terminated positions Movement and Transfers Workforce Workload -number of Business Process actions over time Watershed - Requested,Approved, Executed Headcount - FTE, PTE, Contingent, Partners, VendorsCompensation - Disparity, creep, etc. Diversity - UtilizationAttrition - Why, Where, When Staffing Watershed - Reviews, Interviews,Offers, Accepts, Starts Employee Development - Movement, TrainingPerformance - Planning, Results Experiences - Companies, Countries,Cultures Knowledge and skills - Languages, Certifications,Organizational Affiliations Inventory and Purchasing - granulated byItem Purchasing - Projections, Commitments Inventory - Losses, Movement,Location Business Processes Custom Report Builder Watershed Static

Administration. The central business process management system allowscompanies to manage all business processes from a single location. Thisis accomplished by linking access to roles in each request process, andby administering trip points and approval matrixes. In a preferredembodiment, the administration of the system is controlled by severalrules: each subordinate position takes on the business process rules ofits superior position; a subordinate position cannot change, delete oroverride the rules set by a superior position; and a subordinateposition can add approvers to the Approval Matrix.

Administering Access. Each request process can be accessed by manyRoles. A role must be associated with a specific request process to beable to access that request process. Access can be granted to a specificbusiness process at any functional role level and/or at either titlelevel. When linked, access to that request process is immediatelyavailable to all positions subordinate to the administrating positionand containing that specific role.

If the request process requires a predecessor and access is null, therequest will automatically build upon completion of the predecessor. Ifaccess is not null, a user must engage the engagement device (subject toaccess rules). If access is null in a request process not requiring apredecessor, no user engage the request and the request if effectivelyturned off.

Administering Approval Each request has an approval matrix. The approvalmatrix is a selector of approver lists dependent on the selection madeby trip points. The system selects the correct set of approvers throughtrip points preset against information in the request. Trip points aregenerally “quantity”, “price”, “date” or “days from a date”, but canalso include status of concurrent requests or the reason for therequest. For example, an employee should not need more than one of thesame training classes. If the employee requests one class, the companycould set the approver as the direct manager only. But, if the employeeorders two of the same class or if the employee already has taken thatclass, the company could add the HR generalist to the list of approversby setting the quantity trip to 1 and adding the HR generalist toquantity approval matrix. As another example, a termination request mayonly require a HR generalist and the first level manager unless it is“for cause”, which could require the outside counsel.

Purchasing Administration. The purpose of Purchasing Administration isto provide the ability to select a vendor and the vendor's catalognumber for each purchasing request. This enables information to bepulled from the vendor's catalog server on current product informationand price. It also allows the company to standardize the set of itemsthat can be purchased for the workforce. This can be done one vendor ata time. It should be possible to standardize on Rosetta Net or similarindustry standards. Most communications can be done via XML through theInternet. It may be necessary to develop a routing server for orders sothat consistency can be maintained across multiple customers andmultiple vendors.

Business Processor. In one embodiment of the present system, a closedloop business process engine or business processor is provided. Thebusiness processes on which the business processor operates can be asimple as a single request process, or a very complicated linking ofrequest processes sequentially and in parallel triggering multipleinternal company, and external partner and vendor actions. Each requestprocess can automatically trigger multiple request processes in seriesor in parallel. This ability to link request processes allow companiesto create a completely seamless business process for any purpose. In thepreferred embodiment, a graphic interface is used to build BusinessProcesses by constructing and linking Request Processes.

The system's Business Processor enables companies to rapidly build,integrate and deploy custom business processes for any purpose no matterhow complex through an intuitive graphical user interface. Noprogramming is required, which saves thousands of programming hours.Custom business processes are mapped around the way employees dobusiness, not around the way software does business. The presentsystem's highly scalable architecture supports integration with anymodern application: CRM, Sales, ERP, Engineering, Manufacturing, HR,Staffing, Training and Development, Finance, General Ledger andAccounting, Legal, Documentation, Purchasing, Public Relations,Corporate Communications and more. The system can integrate withinternal applications, hosted applications and application services. Thepresent system does not require back end integration of legacyapplications and enables the click and point building of custom businessprocesses, which dramatically decreases implementation and deploymenttime for ERP systems.

Request Process Detail. In the preferred embodiment, the request processis a simple state machine. Access to information is governed by thestate of the request. The states correspond to the basic functions ofthe request process: build; summarize; approval; execute; and complete.Each request state has a status: active; hold; cancel; or declined.

Management Control Center. The system's management control center allowscompanies to add and remove access and approvers simply by point andclick linking of roles to business processes. This capability can bepermitted at any level within the organization, which enables companiesto establish threshold business rules across the entire organizationwhile allowing its business units to tighten business rules as required.

The benefits and advantages which may be provided by the presentinvention have been described above with regard to specific embodiments.These benefits and advantages, and any elements or limitations that maycause them to occur or to become more pronounced are not to be construedas a critical, required, or essential features of any or all of theclaims. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or anyother variations thereof, are intended to be interpreted asnon-exclusively including the elements or limitations which follow thoseterms. Accordingly, a process, method, article, or apparatus thatcomprises a list of elements does not include only those elements butmay include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to theclaimed process, method, article, or apparatus.

While the present invention has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, it should be understood that the embodiments areillustrative and that the scope of the invention is not limited to theseembodiments. Many variations, modifications, additions and improvementsto the embodiments described above are possible. It is contemplated thatthese variations, modifications, additions and improvements fall withinthe scope of the invention as detailed within the following claims.

1. A method embodied in a computer-readable medium for searching for aselected role within a hierarchical organizational structure comprising:(a) identifying the selected role for which the search will be conductedand identifying a first position within the organizational structurefrom which the search will be started; (b) after identifying theselected role and the first position, identifying a second positionwhich is immediately above the first position in the organizationalstructure; (c) making a determination whether the second position isassociated with the selected role and terminating the search when thesecond position is associated with the selected role and searchingpositions below the second position in the organizational structure whenthe second position is not associated with the selected role; (d)identifying a third position above the second position and repeating (c)from the third position when the selected role is not found among thepositions below the second position in the organizational structure; (e)repeating (d) until the selected role is found; and (f) when theselected role is found, saving and/or displaying the selected role. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the method is initiated as part of aselected business process, wherein the selected role is associated withperformance of a required function in the completion of the businessprocess, and wherein identifying the first position comprisesidentifying a position initiating the business process.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising identifying the selected role, whereinidentifying the selected role comprises determining which of a pluralityof roles is required to authorize a business process and identifying arole which is required to authorize the business process as the selectedrole.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of the rolesassociated with positions in the hierarchical organizational structureis not unique.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the selected role isassociated with a plurality of unique positions within theorganizational structure.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein positionsbelow the second position in the organizational structure are searchedin accordance with a predetermined pattern.
 7. The method of claim 1further comprising defining the organizational structure as ahierarchical structure and defining a hierarchical role structure withinwhich the roles associated with the positions are organized, wherein thehierarchical role structure is distinct from the hierarchicalorganizational structure.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein thehierarchical role structure comprises at least one of the structuresconsisting of: a hierarchical functional role structure; a hierarchicalsuperiority role structure; and a hierarchical legal role structure. 9.The method of claim 7 wherein the hierarchical role structure comprisesat least two of the structures consisting of: a hierarchical functionalrole structure; a hierarchical superiority role structure; and ahierarchical legal role structure.
 10. The method of claim 7 wherein thehierarchical role structure comprises: a hierarchical functional rolestructure; a hierarchical superiority role structure; and a hierarchicallegal role structure.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the selectedrole comprises a first selected role and wherein the method furthercomprises searching for a second selected role.
 12. The method of claim11 wherein searching for the first and second selected roles comprisesrepeating (a)-(d) for each of the first and second selected roles. 13.The method of claim 11 wherein searching for the first and secondselected roles comprises concurrently searching for the first selectedrole and the second selected role.
 14. A software product comprising acomputer-readable medium having instructions embodied therein configuredto cause a computer to perform a method for searching for approval roleswithin a hierarchical organizational structure including: identifyingone or more approval roles, wherein for each of the approval roles,approval of a person in a position associated with the approval role isrequired for completion of a business process; and searching for aperson associated with each approval role by (a) identifying a secondposition in the hierarchical organizational structure which isimmediately above a first position associated with the business process,(b) making a determination whether the second position is associatedwith the approval role and terminating the search when the secondposition is associated with the approval role and searching positionsbelow the second position in the hierarchical organizational structureif when the second position is not associated with the approval role,(c) identifying a third position above the second position and repeating(b) with the second position substituted for the first position and thethird position substituted for the second position when the approvalrole is not found among the positions below the second position in theorganizational structure; and (d) repeating (c) until the approval roleis found.
 15. The software product of claim 14, further comprisingdelivering a notification to the an identified person associated witheach approval role.
 16. The software product of claim 15, wherein themethod further comprises suspending completion of the business processuntil authorization for the business process is obtained from theidentified person associated with each approval role.
 17. The softwareproduct of claim 15, wherein the first position is a position associatedwith a person initiating the business process.
 18. The software productof claim 15, wherein identifying the approval roles required forcompletion of the business process comprises determining from adefinition of the business process the one or more roles whose approvalis required for the business process to be completed.
 19. The softwareproduct of claim 15, wherein the approval roles comprise two or moreapproval roles.
 20. The software product of claim 15, wherein theapproval roles are non-unique, and wherein the identified personassociated with each approval role is one of a plurality of persons whoare associated with the approval role.
 21. The software product of claim15, wherein each approval role includes a functional role, a superiorityrole, and a legal role.
 22. The software product of claim 15, whereineach approval role includes at least two of the group consisting of: afunctional role; a superiority role; and a legal role.